Everton Interested In 31-Year-Old Winger With 3 Goals: Why Is It Not A Good Move?

Everton Interested In 31-Year-Old Winger With 3 Goals: Why Is It Not A Good Move? A fresh transfer report from talkSPORT has linked Everton with a move for Newcastle United winger Jacob Murphy this summer. The Toffees want wide reinforcements. Murphy’s contract situation at St James’ Park makes him an obvious target. He is entering his final 12 months. Newcastle have been busy recruiting attackers this window, bringing in Anthony Elanga and Nick Woltemade, which narrows Murphy’s pathway to regular minutes on Tyneside. He is 31 now. Without a new deal on the horizon, an exit looks highly likely for a player who has given the club nine years of committed, versatile service. Whether Everton should actually bother is another matter entirely. Everton eye cut-price deal for Newcastle winger Jacob Murphy Everton’s need for bodies out wide hinges partly on what happens with Jack Grealish and Tyrique George. Dwight McNeil’s future adds yet another layer of uncertainty. David Moyes confirmed after the season that these situations would be resolved before August, but the club’s habitual lack of a backup plan makes that reassurance feel thin. They finished 13th in the Premier League last season. Moyes wants to push Everton back towards the European places. Tyrique George is coming in for a permanent deal worth over £20 million after Chelsea and Everton reopened negotiations, which at least fixes one flank. Murphy is a completely different profile from George. That distinction matters. Why does this transfer link make little sense for the Toffees NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – MAY 02: Jacob Murphy of Newcastle United celebrates after his assist led to the first goal during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion at St James’ Park on May 02, 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) Honestly? This one does not excite. It feels lazy. Murphy made 33 Premier League appearances in the 2025/26 season, accumulating three goals and two assists across 1,621 minutes. Solid enough numbers for a backup, sure, but hardly the output of a player who transforms a side’s attacking threat from wide positions. His FotMob average rating of 6.52 places him comfortably in the dependable squad player category rather than anything more. At 31, Murphy brings experience and technical reliability. He presses honestly, tracks back, and rarely lets his side down positionally. But those are the exact qualities a club pushing for Europe needs from its third or fourth option, not its primary wide signing. Jarrod Bowen , who racked up nine goals and 11 assists last season even as West Ham collapsed around him, has reportedly told Moyes directly he would be open to a move to Goodison Park. That is the calibre of wide forward this window demands, not a player whose best days at the top level are behind him. Everton have also been tipped to pursue Alieu Njie from Torino for around £9 million . That is a far more exciting proposition given the Swede’s age and development ceiling. Murphy, free or otherwise, solves nothing structurally. He keeps the squad ticking in moments of injury, but Moyes needs real quality from this window. The Friedkin Group have backed him. Spending that trust on an ageing winger in the final year of his deal, even at a reduced cost, represents a missed opportunity. Everton need forward-thinking recruitment. Murphy looks like the opposite of that.